A comparative study between Kuwait’s Government and Private Sector Primary Schools in methods of teaching and pupils’ achievement in mathematics

Abstract

The study aimed at identify the aspects associated with teaching mathematics and students’ learning through The framework for the scientific and theoretical features and properties related to: a) teaching mathematics in primary school, b) mathematics students' achievement and educational environment attributes, schools and teachers, c) nature of primary education in private and governmental schools, d) The differences between them in Kuwait in light of fifth primary class teaching methods and skills, and student learning and factors that affect it. Study sample included (20) mathematics teachers, all of whom taught fifth grade pupils from three primary schools in Kuwait (one private and two public; one for boys and the other for girls). Of these twenty, (10) were mathematics teachers in public primary schools and the other (10) were in the private primary school. Also, a sample of (80) pupils were chosen from fifth grade primary consisting of (50) pupils from the public schools (25 boys and 25 girls) and the remaining (30) pupils from the private schools (15 boys and 15 girls). Many tools were administered: a) a pilot study to define the problem and confirm the validity of the research questions ;b) questionnaire for teachers to elicit information concerning the teaching methods employed; c) Collation of pupils’ achievement data to define and discover the differences between pupils’ achievement. A number of statistical tools from the SPSS package for analysing social research data were used, the most important of which were: Cronbach's Alpha; Frequencies and percentages; and T test. Result showed that there are statistical differences between the government and private schools concerning: the attributes and characteristics of the methods of teaching mathematics; the mathematics curriculum; the components of the educational and scholastic environment; and the students' achievement. there are no statistical differences between the government and private schools concerning: the teacher's perception of student's achievement; and the teacher's skills.